This concise guide explains the history, theory, potential, application, and limitations of Artificial Intelligence. Boden shows how research into AI has shed light on the working of human and animal minds, and she considers the philosophical challenges AI raises: could programs ever be really intelligent, creative or even conscious?

How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is "really" like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the reader on a grand tour of more than a hundred years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science. Examples and asides engage the beginning student, a glossary of terms explains key concepts, a...

Why do some games seem to be universal while others have a particular connection to the culture of the people playing them?

'There is no author whose books I look forward to more' Bill Gates

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a mind-opening exploration of how size defines life on Earth.

Explaining the key processes shaping size in nature, society and technology, Smil busts myths around proportions - from bodies to paintings and the so-called golden ratio - tells us what Jonathan Swift got wrong in Gulliver's Travels - the giant Brobdingnagian's legs would buckle under their enormous weight - and di...

To a diverse group of industries, static headspace-gas chromatography (static HS-GC) is an indispensable technique for analyzing volatile compounds; it enables the analyst to assay a variety of sample matrices, while avoiding the time-consuming and costly preparation involved with traditional GC.

Deepen and broaden subject knowledge to set yourself up for future success Foundation Maths 7th Edition by Croft and Davison has been written for students taking higher and further education courses who may not have specialised in mathematics on post-16 qualifications, and who require a working knowledge of mathematical and statistical tools. By providing careful and steady guidance in mathematical methods along with a wealth of practice exercises to improve your maths skills, Foundation Math...

Deepen and broaden subject knowledge to set yourself up for future success Foundation Maths 7th Edition by Croft and Davison has been written for students taking higher and further education courses who may not have specialised in mathematics on post-16 qualifications, and who require a working knowledge of mathematical and statistical tools. By providing careful and steady guidance in mathematical methods along with a wealth of practice exercises to improve your maths skills, Foundation M...

A little over a decade since its first publication, the hypotheses set out in Manuel Castells' groundbreaking trilogy have largely been verified. In a substantial new preface to the first volume in the series, Castells demonstrates, in the light of major world trends, how the network society has now fully risen on a global scale.

This textbook is aimed at newcomers to nonlinear dynamics and chaos, especially students taking a first course in the subject. The presentation stresses analytical methods, concrete examples, and geometric intuition. The theory is developed systematically, starting with first-order differential equations and their bifurcations, followed by phase plane analysis, limit cycles and their bifurcations, and culminating with the Lorenz equations, chaos, iterated maps, period doubling, renormalizatio...

This engaging and clearly written textbook/reference provides a must-have introduction to the rapidly emerging interdisciplinary field of data science. It focuses on the principles fundamental to becoming a good data scientist and the key skills needed to build systems for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. The Data Science Design Manual is a source of practical insights that highlights what really matters in analyzing data, and provides an intuitive understanding of how these core...